Building Birthing Pod

Birthing Pod decks are the latest incarnation in a hallowed tradition of base-Green decks that make use of utility creatures, ways to search for them, and ways to reuse them. I have long been a fan of these decks. In the first major tournament I ever played, I played a three-color base-Green deck with a lot of creatures, and my power cards were Demonic Tutor and Regrowth. Even without any of the Power Nine, I managed to finish in second place. In the semifinals, I even met and defeated future Hall of Famer Dave Humpherys, who later became a close friend and teammate. After Tempest came out in 1997, I created Five-Color Kastle for New England Regionals that year:

I shared my idea with four friends, and between the five of us, we captured the top three spots at Regionals that year. I was among the two who missed the Top 8, but I made up for it by winning a single-elimination grinder tournament at Nationals that same year. The next year, I made the Top 8 of three different Grand Prix events using a Recurring Nightmare/Survival of the Fittest deck. I played The Rock at Pro Tour: Houston and used Vampiric Tutors to search for the cards I needed on my way to a third-place finish. The long list of multicolored Green creature decks I’ve played and have had success with (only a few of which I’ve mentioned here) is a reflection of my great love for the archetype. It’s no surprise that I’m also a big fan of Birthing Pod decks.

A good example of Birthing Pod in the new Standard is the deck played by Kouichi Tanaka to a Top 8 finish at Grand Prix: Hiroshima:

Tanaka has the standard 1-drops: Birds of Paradise and Avacyn’s Pilgrim. The deck has more Green mana than any other color, so it uses mana-producing creatures to help find its other colors—usually just White and Blue. You want to play enough of these mana-producing creatures to give you a good chance at finding one on the first turn, but few enough that you aren’t constantly top-decking them. I’m playing more Birds than Pilgrims because I need colors other than Green and White more often than Tanaka.

At 2 mana, we’re both using Viridian Emissary and Phantasmal Image. The Emissary is perfect for sacrificing, and the Image is great to search for. I also have Merfolk Looter, Azure Mage, and Myr Superion at 2. Control decks like Solar Flare are very popular right now, and I think Looters and the Mage help against control. One of the biggest problems with Pod is that it’s inconsistent; if it doesn’t find a Pod, it seems like just a random assortment of creatures. The Looters help with this problem. While it’s possible for the deck to cast the Superion, it’s mainly a great 2-drop to Pod for. If I draw the Superion or extra Pods, I can ditch them to my Looters.

One of the biggest differences between my version and Tanaka’s is that I have greater variety in my creature selection with more one-ofs. While my Looters help me be more consistent, Tanaka increases his deck’s consistency by playing more copies of various creatures that he considers important. Unfortunately, this still doesn’t help him find his Pods. 3 mana is another point in the curve where our decks diverge. We both have Blade Splicer, Fiend Hunter, and Skaab Ruinator, but I have Mentor of the Meek where he has Brindle Boar—another example of me being more worried about control and Tanaka being more worried about aggro.

We both have Acidic Slime and Archon of Justice at 5, but he has more Slimes, and I have a Razor Hippogriff. Not only does the Hippogriff give me some life-gain to make up for not having a Boar, but there are a lot of potential targets: Vat, Pod, Simulacrum, Wurmcoil Engine, Superion, and Metamorph. It’s especially helpful when your opponent tries to break up your engine by destroying your Birthing Pod.

At 7, we have Elesh Norn to shut down token decks and to have a permanent Overrun-like effect in our decks. One of the big differences between our decks is that I have a sorcery: Unburial Rites. I have a couple of them to give me more recursion and the ability to search my graveyard for answers or problems. This is another good reason for me to play Looters. It’s also another reason I can throw things away to Looters and not worry about being completely unable to ever use those creatures later.

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